by Pegaz
Everyone in the room just stared at John, unable to fathom what he meant about the oath.
“For example,” John explained further. “Due to unique circumstances, I’m able to tell where Rogue Sect members are within a certain distance. To prove I speak the truth, I can point out three Rogue sect spies among the elders in this room this instant!”
The sect master stood up in shock at this. He waved his hand and the big metal doors closed as Life Power hit them.
“If he speaks the truth, then he could very well have saved my Sword Sect,” the master’s voice boomed. “If he speaks lies, I will kill him! All elders will do as he says until this is over!”
All the elders stood up and shouted, “Yes, Sect Master!” in unison.
John nodded, pointed to an elder saying, “You,” and then repeated the action to two other elders in the room. He then turned to the sect master.
“If you can get them to stand here in the middle, I will show you that I speak the truth.”
The elders around the people John pointed to grabbed their arms, legs, and anything else they can and dragged them to the middle of the room. They didn’t let go of them when they reached the middle. John walked past Sarah who had not moved since John announced her as his wife. He stopped in front of the three elders.
“All three of you only have to repeat a sentence,” he stated clearly. “If you don’t die, then I’m wrong and the sect master will kill me. If you die, then I’m right.”
The elders in question held their breath.
“The sentence I want you to say is, ‘The assassin sect I’m a part of is the Rogue sect. I’m on a mission for them and the new sect master is Jeremy May, who killed Jamie Cooper in a coup d’état.’ Please repeat it.”
All three elders had sweat forming on their foreheads, and all three of them refused to repeat it. This caused all the other elders and sect master to acknowledge that John was right. The sect master walked towards the three elders and tapped on their foreheads, causing them to relax from hypnosis. They repeated the sentence John said when the sect master told them to.
All three elders immediately collapsed, dead.
Turning around to face John, the sect master nodded and walked to him. Once he got close enough, he held his hand out. John shook his hand.
Sitting back on the throne, the sect master asked John about all the information he had on the Rogue sect. In return for answering, John and Sarah would become honoured elders of the Sword Sect. Honoured elder was a rare position; they did not have to do anything for the sect due to already contributing much more than all other elders put together. The sect master wanted to give them this position because the information they would provide would save the sect members and maybe even the sect itself.
Agreeing to the terms, John told them everything about the Rogue sect, including the new sect master’s name and his memory manipulating technique. Frank asked about their strengths and if Sword Sect could win in a fight. John thought for a few minutes before replying.
“I would need to know the basic strengths of Sword Sect.”
The sect master told John that there were thousands of elite disciples who were Rank 7 or higher, millions of inner disciples at Rank 5 or higher, and billions of outer sect disciples at Rank 3 or higher. There were a few hundred people in the Sword Sect who were Rank 9, but they chose seclusion rather than sit in meetings. They would only come out when Sword Sect was under attack.
Mulling the information over in his head, John was finally ready to answer.
“If my master was still alive,” he stated without any exaggeration, “the Sword Sect could be single-handedly destroyed. In his final days, he had broken through to the realm above Rank 9 but didn’t know how to wield the new power properly before getting killed.”
Silence in the room. John continued.
“Currently, if it was a head-on fight, then the Sword Sect would win without a doubt.” John’s words became a little less severe. “But the Rogue sect is full of assassins who never fight head-on. If you can keep them off this planet, then Sword Sect will win the fight in the long run, but if they get spies inside again, then they will win.”
Frank thought of what John had said for a few minutes before replying.
“That’s sound reasoning,” he marvelled. “I’ve already kept my word as you and your wife are now part of the Sword Sect as honoured elders, but follow the Sword Sect’s rules. Earn credits to spend in the shops or rent a house like everybody else.”
“That’s no problem.” John dipped his head in a polite bow. “Where do I purchase the credits? I will need to buy or rent a house for the four of us, and we also need to read the books in the library. Ah, also, please do not publically announce our identities.”
Frank agreed and provided the information that the couple needed. He asked about the two people standing behind John and Sarah, to which John replied they were guards protecting them and wouldn’t be joining the sect but would live with them.
As soon as they were alone, Sarah grabbed John’s hand. She had a strange look in her eye.
“So, I’m your wife now?”
John took out two pieces of adamantine, platinum, gold, rhodium and other precious metals. He touched his head with them and morphed them into two rings. They both had purple-gold and silver colours mixed with a fine shine.
They were his and her wedding rings.
John got on one knee and held out the ring towards her.
“It’s only been just over a year,” he said quietly. “You’ve tried to kill me twice, tried to deceive me once, and used me to get away from the Anti-Assassins.”
Sarah’s heart skipped a beat.
“But then we shared our secrets, our skills, our past lives, and Dual Cultivation techniques. All that has brought us to this point. We’ve already said we love each other; we’ve already moved in together. This is the next step.”
Pausing for a breath, John asked the question.
“Will you marry me?”
Sarah’s eyes were lost in his.
“Yes!”
She lowered her hand to let him put the ring on her finger. Overwhelmed, she hugged and kissed him while saying “Yes!” over and over until the word didn’t feel like a word anymore. After ten minutes of embracing, they made their way to the administration building as neither of them wanted a reception.
On that day, the Sword Sect created a new procedure for joining the sect. Each new member had to say the same sentence that John had said, and all current members had to say it, too. The sect master sent all the elders to test everybody and made sure nobody was missed. It was either comply or be killed, no middle ground.
Chapter 20
Frank’s Father
After John and Sarah had left, the elders continued their meeting.
“Sect Master,” one of the Grand Elders stood up and asked. “Don’t you find it’s suspicious that an assassin got around the blood oath and told us of the spies? Could this be a plot to gain their trust?”
“It is possible that a scheme is in play here.” Frank nodded. “It is also possible that they are on the run and have ignored the blood oath somehow. That is the reason I decided not to ask them to take our blood oath before joining. I will talk to my father and get his opinion on the matter since it involves the survival of our sect. This meeting is now adjourned. I will hold another meeting if my father makes a different decision.”
Standing up, Frank took out a sword and flew into the distance. He travelled to a secluded valley inside a gorge. To live in this Life Power rich valley, you needed to become a secluded elder and give up all of your power within the sect. Most of the people here passed their positions on to members of their family, like Frank’s father gave the sect master position to him. The only time these elders came out of seclusion was when the sect was in an emergency.
Frank flew down the gorge’s opening and towards a small wooden hut. Landing in front of the hut, he put the sword away and knocked
on the door.
“Come in,” a voice responded.
Opening the door, he saw his father sitting in a chair on top of a small grassy area. Frank was almost the spitting image of his father—silver eyes, beard, and hair included. From afar, the only difference was the length of their beard.
“Father.” Frank did a martial arts salute.
His father nodded and took out a chair for Frank to sit on.
“Four people came today.” Frank took a seat. “They claimed to be from the strongest assassin sect in the universe.”
This opening sentence caught his father’s attention straight away.
“They can get around the blood oath,” Frank continued. “They came to us for an exchange. They gave us all the information about the sect and even how to root out their spies. In exchange, they want to join the Sword Sect. I had them prove they were telling the truth first. Three elders died by activating blood oaths not belonging to the Sword Sect.”
“What?!” Frank’s father stood up and grabbed Frank by the shoulders. “It’s real!? We have the information!?”
“Y-yes.” It shocked Frank that his father was so hot-blooded. “We found a few other spies in the sect as well. The name of the assassin sect is the Rogue Sect. According to the man, if his master was alive, he would have been a transcendent and could have wiped our sect out of existence.”
His father let go of his shoulders, stood up, then paced across the room for a few minutes before turning his head towards Frank.
“Was his master’s name Jamie Cooper?”
“I do not know.” Frank shook his head. “I came here after we filtered out the spies because some elders think this could be a scheme to get us to trust them for unknown reasons.”
“Ah. I see.” His father laughed. “If he was part of the Rogue Sect like he claimed, he doesn’t need to scheme like this. While we loathe what they do, we can appreciate that they only target the evil people, like my brother.”
He paused for a moment before speaking once more.
“Take me to these people from the Rogue sect. I have questions that have bothered me for thousands of years. You do not know how annoying unanswered questions are.”
Frank stood up and walked out the hut with his father. They flew towards the teleport system and then arrived at the admin building near where John was exchanging Life Stones for credits.
When the exchange was over, they gave John a token. It was almost the same as Owen’s token, but instead of the crossing swords, it had 30,000 across the middle. John took the token to a different part of the admin building that sold the houses. After twenty minutes they decided on a house to purchase, spending a little over half of the value on the token.
The house was a detached, three-story, eight-bedroom house with a massive front and back garden. The location was a thirty-minute walk from the sword school, where elders teach sword techniques. They also hired a team of gardeners and cleaners to tidy up the property on a daily work schedule. John needed to pay them in Life Stones on a monthly basis.
As they walked out the admin building with the house keys, they noticed two people flying towards them. With their heightened vision, they could see it was the Sect Master Frank and another person who looked a lot like him.
“Get ready for a fight just in case,” John whispered. “While we can’t kill them, we can at least try to hurt them. Make sure you use the teleport skill as soon as they get in close combat range.”
Sarah nodded and put her left foot behind so her feet were shoulder width apart. John checked the two people with Immortal Eye. He knew Franks strength from earlier, but the new man astounded him.
???
Rank: 9
Level: 9
Sin: 42
“Shit.”
It took only a few seconds for Frank and his father to get to a few hundred feet of John and Sarah. They calmly stepped off their swords, noticing John and Sarah’s stances.
“We’re not here to fight,” Frank said. “Only to talk. This is my father and the previous sect master.”
“My name is Fred Knight.” The other man nodded. “I can see you have a set of house keys in your hand. Please allow me and my son the honour of being your first guests.”
John and Sarah looked at each other and nodded.
“Fine.” John looked at Fred. “But we have nothing to eat or drink and the house is probably filthy, too. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Fred chuckled. “I’m used to being in a small hut full of grass and weeds to cultivate. I don’t care about a little dust.”
John and Sarah lead the two puppets and the two guests to their new home. After a twenty-minute walk, John unlocked the gate and let everyone through.
The house wasn’t as filthy as John expected. It looked as though somebody had cleaned it only a week ago. The four people sat down on chairs and sofas inside the living room, while the puppets only stood there. Fred broke the silence first.
“Were you born with that silver hair?”
John only shook his head at the question.
“So you reached the purified realm just like our ancestor.”
“That’s right.” John smiled under the mask. His speculation was right, but he had to know for sure. “Do all your family members have silver hair and eyes, then?”
“Yes.” Frank nodded. “Once somebody reaches the purified realm, his or her bloodline will all have silver hair and eyes. My wife had brown hair and blue eyes before she died. My mother had blonde hair and blue eyes. It was my father and me who had the bloodline running through them.”
John thought for a second and then said, “So you haven’t got the purified Life Power?”
Both Fred and Frank shook their heads.
“Well, let this be a greeting gift then.” John chuckled. “I’ll tell you the same thing my master said when he broke through to what you call the purified realm. We call it Silver Grade. He said the white state that everybody tries for is like a blank canvas. Our life force is the paint, so you can never keep it white. Our life force’s colour is black. Mix it in with the white and you get silver.”
Both Fred and Frank closed their eyes, picturing what John described.
“Those are wise words your master said.” Fred opened his eyes. “I feel like the breakthrough I’ve been chasing has gotten much closer after listening to your words. I’ve heard your master has died and I’m very sorry to hear but I must ask, was your master’s name Jamie Cooper?”
John was shocked to hear this question. He slowly nodded.
Chapter 21
Getting Started
“So your master,” Fred started slowly, “whom you said could have single-handedly destroy us if he was still alive... It was his name in the oath, right? We assumed it was, but without your confirmation, we would have never truly known. Sorry for your loss.”
Fred chuckled, but it was a sad one. He looked down to the floor, a shadow covering his face.
“It was your master that killed my brother,” he said in a cool, even tone. “At first, I was so angry that I wanted to charge throughout the universe in search of your master. It was my father that stopped me. He told me about the assassin code and the fact he hired your master to kill his own son.”
The air in the room was still.
“He couldn’t do it himself,” Frank continued in his dark voice. “He tried to get my brother on the right track but failed. My brother was out of control. He went on different planets, murdering everyone who had a weapon. He once killed a man using a walking stick, saying it is a weapon, too.”
Frank paused, taking a deep breath.
“My father told me your master’s name.” The master smiled at John. “But I never met him, and now there is no chance to.”
John smiled under the mask.
“My master held up the sect’s code until his last breath,” John replied. “The new sect master killed him to change that code. Now, the sect will take any contract for money, e
ven children.”
“The Sword Sect will declare to kill all members of the assassin sect because of the lack of code.” Fred clenched his fists. “I will talk to a few friends in other sects to join us. If it works out, then the public sects will hunt them down, but we need to figure out how to find them.”
“It’s not like I don’t want them hunted down,” John replied with a frown. “But I can only recognise them with an inborn skill. It was a coincidence I even figured out how to do it. Getting them to speak that sentence to activate their blood oath is the only way I can think of but you can’t ask everybody in the universe to say it. If ever the Rogue sect finds out about the sentence people have to say to join the Sword Sect, then they’ll change the blood oath to counter it. If they counter it, then spies will get inside once again.”
Fred and Frank stayed for over an hour trying to figure out a way to out the Rogue sect members but couldn’t think of anything. Fred asked all the questions he could think of, but to no avail.
John and Sarah changed the colour of their Daoist robes to a silky white with a black sword insignia in the middle of the back. White was the colour of the sect. The sword was the department that they belonged to. On the front of the robes just below the left shoulder was a single black star, showing they were outer sect disciples. They wanted no one else other than the sect master and the elders in the meeting to know they were honoured elders in the sect.
When John and Sarah told them their ranks and levels, Fred and Frank were stunned. Using the excuse of inborn skills again, John told them that he and Sarah could run at fast speeds for a short time, which was what made him a great assassin. It was a lie, of course, to cover up their teleport ability. John made a little show of his “speed” and got behind both Fred and Frank in the flash of an eye. He held a blade to each of their necks, sending a shiver down their spines.
With all accounts settled, Fred and Frank were on their way out. Before they left, John gave Owen’s token to them, and in return, received another token with the letters ‘HE’ in the middle. This represented their honoured elder status.